As the rumoured defection of former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC is yet to abate; leaders of the main opposition party, Tuesday, spoke on the development in a chat with this medium.
Jonathan, who was elected President of Nigeria in the 2011 election but lost to Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, literally turned his back against the PDP in the past seven and a half years. He has avoided all gatherings of the party including the 2017 national elective convention, 2018 Presidential convention and the 2021 national convention that brought the current National Working Committee, NWC, members to power, among others.
With his campaign posters pasted in designated places in the Federal Capital Territory; Jonathan is reportedly on the verge of joining APC after he was credited with an interest in the Office of the President, should President Muhammadu Buhari endorse him.
In a chat with Vanguard, PDP national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba said the party will not react to speculations on whether the former President will defect or not.
“We are not going to say anything for now. As far as we know, the former President has not defected. He has not said he would defect. Until he defects, the PDP won’t react because we don’t treat rumours or insinuations. We deal with facts,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of his principal, Nathaniel Ikyur, Chief Press Secretary to the Benue state governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom said “politics is all about interest,” noting that should Jonathan go ahead to defect to the ruling party, “I will still not make a comment.”
On his part, former governor of Kaduna state, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi came short of saying that political choices are freely made as people at one time or the other, go right or left.
“It is his (Jonathan’s) life,” Makarfi said in his brief response; an indication that should the ex-President make the move, the party will move on.
After repeated efforts to make him react, former Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose said it was impossible for him to confirm or deny the possibility of Jonathan’s imminent defection to APC because in his words, “I am not in his mind.”
On her part, Tari Iberia Oliver, the only female Presidential aspirant of the PDP, expressed doubt about Jonathan quitting PDP for APC.
Having been a member of the PDP for 19 years, the Presidential hopeful noted that the PDP would not get unnecessarily worried over what has been reported of Jonathan because “the man has not said he is leaving.”
She continued: “I don’t want to believe this will happen. So, let’s not talk about this because at the end, the rumour is likely to just disappear the same way it came. Don’t forget, we are in the era of politics and a lot get thrown up that are not true.”
